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Mapping with Fusion Tables
This is my first stab at using Google Fusion Tables to present area-level data. In this case, it’s just a simple map of the Greater London Authority constituencies, coloured according to the results of the 2012 GLA elections. Fusion Tables are one of the easiest ways to host and publish data online – especially maps.…
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Easterhouse
Location: GlasgowLifespan: 1950s- The Easterhouse estate sits on high ground 6 miles east of Glasgow city centre, bounded by two motorways, a loch and open countryside. Plans for a substantial estate to rehouse the residents of Glasgow’s inner-city tenements were held up by the war, but building work finally got underway in the early 1950s and…
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Dines Green
Location: WorcesterLifespan: 1950s- Estates A, B and C share a few things in common: built in the 60s and 70s, architecturally quite pioneering, consisting of a small handful of large, communal blocks and located in an urban environment. This picture of inner-city high rise is the sort of thing the word ‘estate’ tends to bring to…
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Coverdale Crescent
Location: ManchesterLifespan: 1972-1993 Known locally as Fort Ardwick, Coverdale Crescent was system-built using a similar method to the one that produced the ill-fated Ronan Point in Newham. Just two years after its completion, Fort Ardwick was already attracting ire from its inhabitants: local MP Gerald Kaufman reported to Parliament in 1974 that, during a conversation with residents, one…
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Broadwater Farm
Location: LondonLifespan: 1973- The 12 blocks that make up the Broadwater Farm estate took six years to complete and are named after Battle of Britain airfields. They sit on top of the River Moselle and occupy a former allotment site. One of the external walls of Debden block is the canvas for a huge waterfall mural, completed…
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Alexandra and Ainsworth
Location: LondonLifespan: 1978- The Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate sits right up next to the mainline tracks coming out of London Euston. The apartments facing the railway line are stepped outwards to shield the rest of the estate from the noise of passing trains, and the building’s foundations are built on rubber pads to reduce vibrations. The huge…
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County Hall Island Block
John Bancroft’s 1970s extension to the former Greater London Council’s headquarters lay empty for exactly twenty years before being demolished in 2006 to make way for a hotel. Sitting in the middle of a busy roundabout at the southern end of Westminster Bridge, the County Hall Island Block was an early example of open-plan office space…
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Mancunian Way
The Mancunian Way opened in 1967, putting a highway on stilts round the southern half of Manchester city centre. Two years later the road gained an award from The Concrete Society, but the most famous feature of the A57(M) is its slip road to nowhere. This would have sent eastbound traffic north into town along Upper…
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West Cross Route
The West Cross Route was one of the few short sections of the London Motorway Box to make it off the page. First conceived after the war, the Motorway Box was part of the London Ringways scheme, which mirrored plans in other cities up and down the country to build new, fast, orbital and radial…